Reunification Palace

The Reunification Palace is an important site of political and cultural significance, built by the French in 1868 to mark the newly established colony of Indochina. In 1945, it briefly became the headquarters for the Japanese after their defeat of the French. In 1962, two Vietnamese rebel pilots bombed the palace – the president survived but the palace did not. He commissioned a new one to be built. It was renamed Independence Palace and the design became a Modernist icon. In 1975 the palace was the symbolic site of the triumphant liberation of Saigon. Vietnam was then reunified; since then the building has been known as Reunification Palace. Today it is a working government building as well as having areas open to the public. Tour the private quarters, the president’s former office and the War Command Room. You get a real sense of what happened here and its importance in Vietnamese history.